old_magickfandomcom-20200214-history
Michigan Central
Michigan Central (formerly Michigan Central Station) is the headquarters for the government of magickal Michigan. It was bought by the magickal government shortly after its closing in 1988, and was renovated heavily before the government offices were formally moved to the building. History Michigan Central Station The building began operating as Detroit's main passenger depot in 1913 after the former Michigan Central Station burned on 26 December 1913. It was originally owned and operated by the Michigan Central Railroad. It was planned as a large project that included the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel below the Detroit River for freight and passengers. The old station was located on a spur line, which was inconvenient for the high volume of passengers it served. The new Michigan Central placed passenger service on the main line. The growing trend toward increased automobile use was not a large concern in 1912, as is evident in the design of the building. Most passengers would arrive and leave from Michigan Central Station by interurban service or streetcar, due to the station's distance from downtown Detroit. The station was placed away from downtown in order to stimulate related development to come in its direction. An ambitious project to connect the station to the Cultural Center via a wide boulevard was never realized. At the beginning of World War I, the peak of rail travel in the United States, more than 200 trains left the station each day and lines would stretch from the boarding gates to the main entrance. In the 1940s, more than 4,000 passengers a day used the station and more than 3,000 people worked in its office tower. Among notable passengers arriving at MCS were presidents Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt, actor Charlie Chaplin and inventor Thomas Edison. In the 1920s, Henry Ford began to buy land near the station and made construction plans, but the Great Depression and other circumstances squelched this and many other development efforts. The original design included no large parking facility. When the interurban service was discontinued less than two decades after MCS first opened, the station was effectively isolated from a large majority of the population who drove cars and needed parking to use the facility. Passenger volume did not decrease immediately. During World War II, the station was used heavily by military troops. After the war, with a growth in automobile ownership, people used trains less frequently for vacation or other travel. Service was cut back and passenger traffic became so low that the owners of the station attempted to sell the facility in 1956 for $5 million, one-third of its original 1913 building cost. Another attempted sale in 1963 failed for lack of buyers. In 1967, maintenance costs were seen as too high relative to the decreasing passenger volume. The restaurant, arcade shops, and main entrance were closed, along with much of the main waiting room. This left only two ticket windows to serve passengers and visitors, who used the same parking lot as railroad employees working in the building. Amtrak took over the nation's passenger rail service in 1971, reopening the main waiting room and entrance in 1975. It started a $1.25 million renovation project in 1978. Six years later, the building was sold for a transportation center project that never materialized. On 6 January 1988, the last Amtrak train pulled away from the station as the owners decided to close the facility. Magickal government headquarters After Typicals struggled to repurpose the building, the magickal government of Michigan bought the building to use as their headquarters. The interior of the building was heavily renovated, especially the lower train tracks. The government was officially moved to this building after renovations were completed. An especially strong glamour was placed over the building and the surrounding area to deter curious Typicals. Any Typicals who did trespass into the building had their memories altered and were provided photos of the glamour to further the illusion of abandonment. Category:Detroit Category:Magickal Michigan state government